Herman Cain is happy to embrace at least one story about him that's emerged of late: his deep ties to conservative power brokers Charles and David Koch. "I'm proud to know the Koch brothers," Cain told their Americans for Prosperity group today, reports MSNBC. "I'm very proud to know the Koch brothers." Then he joked that he had a "breaking news announcement for the media: I am the Koch brothers' brother from another mother!" Koch made light of a New York Times article that described his and campaign chief Mark Block's relationship with the Kochs.
But that type of scrutiny probably won't end soon: The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a related complaint with the FEC today. CREW says a nonprofit group founded by Block—Prosperity USA, which is affiliated with the Kochs' advocacy group—illegally provided $40,000 in expenses to help start the Cain campaign. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported the allegations earlier this week. The campaign has asked an outside attorney to investigate. Click to read how all these headlines are not hurting Cain in the polls. (More Herman Cain 2012 stories.)